Lessons Learned per Co-Creating a Vision

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Milestone 1

• Realize a complete inventory of local skills needed for the topic of academic actors, start-ups or companies already established in the region;
• Make lists of actions and players, record skills, know-how and economic potential, identify best practices and make full use of them to put the chosen topic on the national agenda;
• Start a survey to establish the relationship between local communities and the coastal areas and share results with politicians to put marine biotechnologies on the national agenda as an economic and sustainable opportunity;
• Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) can help to overcome the current marine and societal challenges and unlock the potential for Blue Growth;
• There is a strong need for redefining and refocusing the business model of tourism.

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Milestone 2

• Develop messages that make the problem tangible for everybody for instance by translating facts and figures into something simple and impactful;
• Present the RRI concept with clear examples;
• Present the topic approached from the beginning of the workshop;
• Provide enough time for the presentation of science outcomes and sharing knowledge from research point of view;
• Use keynote speakers to introduce the topic for example specialists, but their speech must be in simple language and avoid using difficult terminology;
• Make the high seas more visible to all stakeholders, the benefits for all and the issues at stake;
• Make the MARINA platform a case study platform where collaborative coastal climate solution projects are presented;
• Explain clearly the MARINA project goals
• Initiate target awareness campaigns towards all stakeholders through a specific media.

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Milestone 3

• Use role play and "Decide" game to integrate difficult concepts in workshop discussion;
• Empower European citizens, business representatives, researchers and policy makers to take informed decisions on the high seas through science education;
• Empower all stakeholder groups to co-create sustainable value propositions that reflect societal needs and support healthy marine environments thanks to RRI dimensions;
• Provide as much information as possible to the subject before the workshop;
• Develop webinars for cross-sectorial stakeholder engagement;
• Identify or create a unique Body entrusted with the control of a process to ensure coordination and synergy of all stakeholders involved.

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Milestone 4

• Request participants keep trying to think from other stakeholders' position;
• Let different perspectives on the subject, which will lead to a common background for further discussion;
• Activate citizens as a resourceful group of action that could lead to a more innovative and including society;
• Develop partnerships for science outreach actions;
• Promote the societal challenge as a hot topic and the workshop's results (media, partners, stakeholders, etc);
• Increase the level of awareness of Marine Spatial Planning process and it's implication in coastal communities and for all stakeholders;
• A structured participatory method like SDD helps participants converge their opinions towards a common vision and a common action plan;
• Check the discussion and gently but firmly ask the participants not to lose focus on the final purpose, to speed up and keep up with the timing or not to go too deep or too specific.

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Milestone 5

• Ensure that all participants stay until the end of the workshop to have coherent results;
• Have participants rank the priorities and discuss from the highest to the lowest to co-construct a common vision;
• Foster stakeholder engagement, capacity building, behavioural changes and production and consumption pattern shift with Science education;
• Identify easy-to-implement solutions to attract people and harbour-related businesses in innovative harbour development;
• Develop tools for engaging citizens in urban development and communicate them broadly to inspire local communities;
• Include more education aspects of citizenship, sustainability and ecology in schools;
• Organize more science dissemination events targeting the general public;
• Promote citizen science to involve the general public on research;
• Provide the results on MARINA platform;
• Learn from education, rather than experience, is necessary to avoid climate changes impact;
• Develop a national strategy for coastal management and coastal protection;
• Develop a coastal protection strategy that is fit for purpose by all stakeholders;
• Improve governance by defining a shared and common vision by involving citizens and business networks for clean and green industries;
• Push participants to move beyond exchanging ideas and to start co-creating a vision;
• While interpreting the results consider the location of the workshop: statistically most of the participants will come from the area where the workshop is held;
• Choose the most effective methodology to build a common vision and give space to many different voices.

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Milestone 6

• Consider Governance as a common responsibility of citizens and decision makers;
• Identify common working initiatives between municipalities and the civil societies, so that citizens may be actively involved;
• Make restaurants aware restaurants and the public about the potential offered by the blue biotechnologies;
• Share data for a better cooperation and public engagement on the high seas;
• Develop a "Social and Solidarity Economy" type of framework in the field of marine biotechnologies;
• Educate children to environmental issues as well as renewable energy profits to create a new wiser society;
• Organize of a marine biotechnology day at the regional level including different actors to make the general public aware on the marine biotechnology sector and its potential;
• Encourage scientists and NGO's to popularize the different aspects of marine biotechnology through science café, forums, open days etc;
• Organise Open Days in companies to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with marine biotechnologies;
• Involve senior/retired scientific experts to communicate on marine biotechnologies in layman's terms to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with the topic;
• Contribute with knowledge and conceptual frameworks that support interaction, collaboration and holistic recommendations based on research experience;
• Push for broad vision for industrial harbour development by local governments inviting non-harbour stakeholders to contribute in new ways;
• Educate children on the importance of biodiversity and how to think about the environment responsibly;
• Develop partnership between different stakeholders;
• Disseminate the results on MARINA platform;
• Offer open access to the specialized information and share knowledge;
• Send the final results of the workshop to the participants;
• Develop a clear understanding around Marine Spacial Planning (MSP) and what its implications are for all stakeholders groups including offshore wind;
• Assess / quantify the social, economic and environmental risk;
• Push governmental bodies for high-tier governance on local initiatives to have the biggest impact;
• Educate all stakeholders about sustainable tourism sustainability to achieve socially and environmentally acceptable goods and services.

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Milestone 7

• Use Open access to boost innovation and increase the use of scientific results by all societal actors as well as to develop public trust and engagement;
• Consider the distinction between the actions of making information available and the actions of making the information understandable by its potential users when dealing with Open Access;
• Get media cover and social media presence to influence policy and decision makers;
• Collect and share information and good practices to raise awareness on marine biotech and to reduce marine pollution;
• Analyse the impact of plumes and waste produced by Deep Sea Mining exploitation;
• Distinguish between occurrences and resources, in order to know what exists and its potential economic value.

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Milestone 8

• Push for the adoption of common processes for accessibility of results of European projects that would allow a comparison of results through time and creation of broader synergies among past and present projects;
• Put in place effective pathways for communicating policy recommandations to EU and to national bodies as part of the global process of the project;
• Be aware that the knowledge transfer to other sectors and general public is a great challenge faced by partners of european projects;
• Involve "Ambassadors" or " figures" at regional level (navigators, high level sportsman, known well-respected public figures of all kinds);
• Create of a one-stop shop for the Institute of blue bio-technologies with short and long-term strategies;
• Create an award for the best blue bio-technologies innovation or product to make maritime biotechnologies a sustainable economic opportunity;
• Start a regional programme and raise awareness of tourism actors to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with marine biotechnologies;
• Add marine biotechnologies in school programmes to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with marine biotechnologies;
• Try to develop stronger engagement among schools and the local authorities for the maintenance of basic infrastructure;
• Improve the legislative framework to encourage the capitalization process of renewable energy;
• Attract students into engineering courses;
• Promote Sustainable Tourism policies to improve coastal and marine ecosystems, minimise pollution and create economic growth by combining efforts at national, regional and local levels and creating green funding schemes and incentives;
• Push for governance and ethics to be required in business registration requirements for creating awareness on sustainability;
• To develop a sector, develop a legal framework promoting and regulating its development;
• Ensure a ministerial umbrella to facilitate the educative process in school by scientists or scientific mediators;
• Improve regulations and legislations about the release of bacteria at sea;
• Improving education/training;
• Improve legislation to deal with climate change and coastal errosion.

See also...

Stakeholder Engagement